First Run of the Season

The Animals

Mushing season is almost here, so here's an introduction to the animals that haul our crap around....

Mushing 101

Lead Dogs - the dogs up front that know what Gee (Right), Haw (Left) and Whoa (stop) mean. Typically smarter than the musher.

Swing Dogs - the dogs that are right behind the lead dogs and are supposed to.... keep the gang line relatively straight in turns so the team and wheel dogs don't get pulled into the trees.

Team Dogs - the engine, between the swing dogs and the wheel dogs.

Wheel Dogs - right in front of the sled. These are typically big dumb strong dogs that don't get mind getting pushed around by the weight of the sled.

The Musher - fat guy sleeping on the runners of the sled.

Tommy - our first dog. He's too furry to pull for long, is slow, fights with other dogs, and is generally a huge pain in the ass, but he looks like a sled dog and when we got him (not knowing anything about sled dogs), looking like a sled dog was the most important thing. Rookies.

Crash - our second dog. She doesn't pull at all, but she's a great dog. She comes when called (most of the time), she's a great bird dog, and eats whatever is in front of her. Again she looks like a sled dog but that's as far as it goes, so clearly we didn't learn anything after our first dog.

Skidder - our third dog. Not really being interested in feeding a bunch of non-pulling dogs we got a real sled dog. Skidder is one of our lead dogs. This guy has lead finishing teams on the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest (both over 1000 miles) not to mention numerous 300+ mile races around Alaska. He taught me, Dianna, and the other dogs how to mush. His previous owner said Skidder lead him through wind storms on Norton Sound during the Iditarod. Now he's here with us. The only bummer is that he's 14 and tired of dealing with all our f**k ups. He's like an NFL football player going back to high school to play second string. Sometimes when things look rough and I'm frustrated, I look at Skidder and I can tell he's saying "listen dumb ass, do what I tell you and we'll make it through this."

Duncan - our fourth dog. A true diamond in the rough. This Chow husky mix is a good mannered lead dog. He loves working, knows his left from his rights (thanks to Skidder), and can even single lead. He's only about 6 so I imagine that he'll run away any day now to join a real mushing team so he can realize his true potential. Good luck, Duncan.

Strugi (puppy #1) - has the heart of a lion and the strength of a lamb. He's in swing position (right behind the leaders). He's high energy and loves to run, but on occasion will have seizures. He likes to bark... a lot.

Neve (puppy #2) - has the heart of a lamb and the strength of a lion. Lovable and the heart of the dog yard. She runs next to Strugi in swing. Once in harness she won't stop working. She's the motivator of the team.

Yukon - our seventh dog. We've had this dog for 2 years and he's still a little shy, but when he's in harness, it's all business.

Biscuit - our last dog. In this photo he's lower right. He's not very photogenic, as a matter of fact I'm not sure he's a dog, he may be a goat. Anyway whatever he is, he holds one of the wheel (closest to the sled) positions. Wheel dogs are known for being strong and stupid. Biscuit lives up to the reputation.

Here's the 6 dog team together. All of our dogs except the puppies came from the shelter.

And Dianna skijoring with Crash and Tommy.

And last, but not least, the cat with many names - Some call him Ahab (he only has 3 feet), Lester McKankle, Kitty Witty, Big Boy, Economic Stimulus Package, The Ambassador. We're going to try him in lead when Skidder decides he's had it!!